Piano-player action



Mmh 24,1925. 1,531,023

, c. E. PETERSON PIANO rPLAYER ACTION Filed June` 30, 1920 Patented Mar. 24, 1925.

UNITEDA STATES CLAUS E. PETERSON, F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

PIANO-PLAYER ACTION.

Application led June 30, 1920. Serial No. 393,059.

To all. ywhom` t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CLAUS E. PETERSON,

a citizen of the United States, residing atv lvorcester, in the county of YVorcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented aI new and useful Improvement in a Piano-Player Action, of which the following, together with the accompanying drawing, is a specification.

My present invention relates to a new and improved method of connecting theplayer action with the sound producing mechanism of al piano, as hereinafter'described. and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which represents so much of a player action and of the sound producing mechanism of a piano as is necessary to illustrate the construction and operation of my invention.

Referring' to the drawing, 1 denotes the key bed, 2 the key, 3 the wippen and 4t the abstract of a piano, all constructed and operating in the usual and well known manner, which will be understood by those conversant with this class of musical instruments. The player action, of which a portion only is shown, is of the connnon and well known type known as pneumatic,

comprising a series 'of motor bellows, each having a valve controlling mechanism, by which a variation of air pressure is produced in the motor bellows as determined by the passage of a perforated music sheet over a tracker bar.

In the accompanying' drawing, only one mot-or bellows and its associated valve mechanism is represented, the tracker bar and music sheet having been omitted, as the construction and Aoperation of this class of pneumatic player actions is in common use and will be readily understood. My present invention relates only to the method of connecting the motor bellows of a pneumatic player action with the wippen of a piano and its connected sound producing mechanism. l have represented but a sin-- gle motor bellows, represented in the accompanying drawing at 5, comprising a stationary leaf 6 and a movable leaf 7. The valve controlling mechanism 8 is l`of the usual and ordinary type employed in this class of player actions, in which the motor bellows is alternately connected with the atmosphere through the air passages 9, 10, 11 and 12, or with a vacuum chamber 13 connected with an air exhausting mechansm, not shown. A. pipe 145 connects a chamber 15 with the perforations of a tracker bar which, when open to the atmosphcre by the passage of a perforated music sheet, raises a flexible diaphragm 16 and lifts a valve 17 to close the air passage 9 and connect the mot-or bellows with the vacuum chamber 13 through the air passages 18,'10, 11 and 12, causing the motor bellows to be collapsed, thereby lifting an arm 19 connected t0 the movable leaf 7 of the bellows. The arm 19 embraces a rod 2() between the nuts 21 and 22., The rod-20 is pivotally connected at its lower end with a lever 23, pivoted at 2a to a stationary framework forming partof the player action. The upper end of the rod 20 is screw threaded and capable of sliding vertically through a fixed framework 26 also forming part of the player action. Adjustably 'held on the screw threaded end of the'rod 2O is a bloc-k 27, and directly above the block 27 and held in the fran'iework 2S is an adjusting screw 29 carrying a block 30 to limit'the upward movement of the rod 2O.v vResting upon the key bed 1 is a strap 31 forming a part of the piano action and carrying at its upper end a bar 32 extending' transversely.across the piano and carrying adjustable screws 33 in position to serve as stops to limit the upward swinging movement of the wippen 3. The strap 31 carries two bars 34E and 35 having holes therethrough for striker wires 36 carrying a block 37 at its upper end arranged to strike against the under side of the wippen, and a block 38 at its lower end resting upon the free end of the lever 23. The striker wires 36 arescrew threaded at their upper ends to carry the adjusting nuts 39, capable of being adjusted on the striker wires 36 and resting against the transverse bar so as to limit the downward movement of the striker wires 36. By the construction above described, all. the striker wires 36 are adjusted by the nuts to bring all the blocks 3S in the same horizontal. plane, and the rods 20 are adjusted by the blocks 27 to -bring the free ends ofthe levers 23 in the same horizontal plane. The nuts 21 and 22 are also adjusted on the rod 2O so that the action of the motor bellows 5 will produce the desired angular movement of the lever 23. The strap 31, attached to the key bed 1 by means of a screw 40, and the parts supported by said strap form part of the piano llO action. The player action, including the framework 25, 26, 28, together with the motor bellows and its valve controlling mechanism, ca n bejwithdrawn and again replaced in position by sliding the free end of the lever 23 beneath the. striker wire 36.

It will be understood that the motor bellows 5 together with t-he operative parts connected therewith will be duplicated for each sound producing mechanism of the piano, only one player laction having been shown in the accompanying drawing. The pneumatic portion of the player act-ioii may be of the action and the wippen of the piano and held by the framework forming a part of the piano, but adapted to beV actuated by a pneumatic bellows, vwhereby the pneuinatically operated portion may `be withdrawn and again replacedv in posit-ion without disturbing that part of the player action held by the framework of the piano. .I accomplish this byfoperat'ively connecting each motor bellows with a lever pivoted at one end to a framework of the removable part of the action, and providing means for holding all the levers in the same .position and causing each offsaid levers to actuate striker wires held by the framework of the piano and interposed between said levers and the wippen of the piano, vwith means holding the lower ends of said striker wires in the same hori- Zontal plane, so the free ends of the levers? can be withdrawn from beneath the striker wires `and again replaced in position to-actuate the striker wires.

The player action, according to my present invention, is divided into two sections, with one removable from the other; the removable section carrying the pneumatic portion of the action comprising the motor bellows with their valve controlling mechanism and the levers 23 with the means for maintaining their free ends in the same horizontal plane, and the nonremovable section comprising the striker wires 36 with means for maintaining them in the same horizontal plane supported by the framework of the piano.

I claim: i

1. In a piano, the combination of a motor bellows, a lever pivoted at one end to a fixed framework and extending beneath the motor bellows, a rod extending betweensaid lever and the motor lbellows, means coacting with said rod for 'limiting the movement of the bellows supported in a framework removablefrom the piano, a lever pivotally held at one end by said removable framework and extending beneath said inotor bellows, means for maintaining the free end of said lever `in a given position, a striker wire interposed between the free end of said lever and the wippen of the piano, and means iiidependent of said lever for limiting the downward movement of said striker wire.

. 3. The combination ina piano, of a penuinatic player action comprising a motor bellows, a lever pivoted at one end and extending beneath said motor bellows and operatively connected therewith by a rod, and means coacting Vwith said rod for limiting the movement of the free end of saidlever, said player-action being removable from the piano, and a striker wire interposed between the free end of said lever and the wippen of the piano, with said striker 4wire slidably supported by the frame ofthe piano.

4. The combination in a piano, of a pneumatic player action comprising a motor bellows, a lever pivoted at one end extending beneathv said bellows and connected therewith, means for limiting the downward movement of the lever, means for ladjusting the space between the lever and the motor bellows, a striker wire mounted on the freek end of said lever and in contact with the wippen of the piano, a vertical strap attached to the key bed of the piano and a guide for the striker wire attached to said strap. f

5. The combination in a piano of av pneumatic player action, comprising aV motor bellows, a lever pivoted at one end to a fixed framework and extending beneath the motor bellows, with its free end; adjustably connected therewith, a striker wire supported on the free end of said lever, contacting with the wippen of the piano,`a strap mounted on the key bed of the piano, guides for said striker wire attached to said strap, and a stop to limit the upward motion of the wippen carried by saidstrap.

Executed this. lQthday of June, 1920.

CLAUS E'. PETERSUN.

Witnessesz l v RUFUs B. 'FowLEm NnLLin l/VHALEN.` 

